DEFENCE
US Marines to target
70 fflf-8Bs for upgrade
BY RAMON LOPEZ
IN WASHINGTON DC
The US Marine Corps ex pects to remanufacture
about 70 in-service McDonnell
Douglas (MDC) day-attack-
only AV-8Bs as upgraded radar-
equipped Harrier II Plus
vertical/short take-off and land
ing (V/STOL) aircraft. The re
built Harrier lis would be in
addition to 27 new Harrier II
Plus already on order.
About 200 AV-8B Harrier lis
UK kicks off
laser-guided-
bomb contest
The UK Ministry of De fence (MoD) initiated
its competition for a new
laser-guided bomb by issu
ing a request for proposals
(RFP) to industry on 4 May.
The new weapon will, in
part, replace Texas Instru
ments (TI) Paveway II laser-
guided bombs and give the
Royal Air Force "a more
accurate and effective sys
tem against a wider range of
possible targets". Competi
tors will have around three
months to respond.
The RAF's Paveway II
stocks were depleted during
the 1991 Gulf War, where
they were used to attack
targets such as bridges,
hardened aircraft shelters
and ammunition dumps.
Systems expected to be
offered include TI's Paveway
III, Matra's Arcole and Aero
spatiale's AS30L laser-
guided air-to-surface mis
sile. Israel Aircraft Indus
tries is to offer an update kit
for the Paveway II, using
technology from its Guillo
tine laser-guided bomb. The
bid would cover upgrading
weapons and additional
Paveway II purchases. O
art in service with the USMC,
including around 60 AV-8B
night-attack variants acquired
in the mid-1980s. Upgrading to
the Harrier II Plus standard
adds the Hughes Aircraft APG-
65 multi-mode radar system to
the Harrier II and equips it
with more powerful Rolls-
Royce Pegasus engines (desig
nated the F402-RR-408 by the
USMC), which entered service
during 1990 on night-attack
AV-8Bs. The APG-65s are being
taken from MDC F-18 strike
fighters, which are being fitted
with the advanced APG-73.
Beginning with four aircraft
in fiscal year 1994, as many as
73 day-attack Harrier lis are
due to be be recycled by the
year 2000.
"The Har
rier II Plus
re-manufac
turing pro- AV-8B performance will be uplifted by the Marines
gramme
makes a lot of sense. It will
allow in-service AV-8Bs to bet
ter meet current threats within
the existing aircraft inventory,"
says the USMCs Maj Randy
Myers, the AV-8B deputy pro
gramme manager.
Re-manufacture gives the
Harrier greatly improved capa
bilities and a new service life at
about two-thirds the cost of a
new Harrier II Plus aircraft.
The aircraft is disassembled
with the wings, horizontal/
vertical tail assembly and other
aircraft subsystems refurbished.
MDC provides a new forward
fuselage, while British Aero
space builds the aft fuselage.
The first AV-8B Harrier II
Plus had its inaugural flight in
September 1992. The prototype
was delivered in mid-April to
the US Naval Weapons Center
at China Lake, California,
where testing will continue
through to September. The first
radar-equipped Harrier II will
be delivered in June to VMA-
542 at MCAS Cherry Point. D
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FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19 - 25 May, 1993 17